


Make me (Smile)

by Nimij



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Begins In PoA, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bromance, Dreams, Eventual Happy Ending, Feelings denial dude, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, HE WILL GROW UP FOR GODS SAKE, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Like really slow, MORE PEOPLE WILL LIVE, Mutual Pining, RON IS NOT AN SELFISH PERSON IN THESE BOOKS, Sassy Hermione Granger, Slow Burn, Surprise Pairing, also lavender and pavarti will not be weak female stereotypes, fears, feelings are complicated and will not be solved in a week, gets rid of idiot plot i dont like, hopes, in this case seems almost bipolar, life isnt linear, lots of fluff, lots of plot changes honestly, lots of ups and downs, should progress through the books, stupid, they are teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:08:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 10,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23265214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nimij/pseuds/Nimij
Summary: Harry wanted, above all things, to wipe the smug smile off of Malfoy’s face. He marched straight up to Malfoy, who had drawn his wand as Harry approached, looked him right in his silver-grey eyes, and kissed him.
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood, Lavender Brown/Ron Weasley, Parvati Patil/ OC, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 30
Kudos: 190





	1. The

**Author's Note:**

> We begin in the middle of book three!  
> Back story will be added don't worry :)  
> Happy reading

“... just wait till my father hears that they have this oaf teaching class.” A familiar voice drawls, coming down from the hill behind him." _Ridiculous_ "

Harry turned around, much to Hermione's dismay as she whispered “Just ignore him harry” 

Ron whispered. “Hagrid needn’t bring out the Magical Creatures, we’ve got plenty of stupid animals at our school already.”, which earned him a poke in the side from Hermione. 

Ignoring both of them wholeheartedly, (though he rather agreed with Rons assessment) he snapped “Shut up, Malfoy.” , dropping his bookbag to the ground haphazardly. Hagrid was looking rather nervous, and Malfoys snide comments weren’t making things better. The Slytherins let out annoying ooos that made Harry grit his teeth together hard as Malfoy shoved his bookbag in Crabbes arms, who clutched onto it with a small grunt.

Malfoy opened his mouth to speak, but looking above Harry's head, his face turned rather fearful, and he screamed, “Dementor, Dementor!”

Harry whipped around quickly, and just as quickly realized that there was no dementor. He heard Malfoy and the other Slytherins sniggering rudely at him, and he almost boiled over with fury at the smug, gloating look currently residing on Malfoy's face. Rational thought took a backseat in Harry's mind. Harry wanted, above all things, to wipe the smug smile off Malfoy’s face. He marched straight up to Malfoy, who had drawn his wand as Harry approached, looked him right in his silver-grey eyes, and kissed him. It was a soft, gentle touch, but it barely lasted a second before Malfoy stumbled back, a look of absolute alarm in his eyes, tripping over his own robes and accidentally riling up Nevilles Monster Book of Monsters, which chose Draco as its next victim, leaving Neville and his tattered robes behind for a fresher victim.

Ron was laughing so hard he was crying, beating the grassy ground as he _howled_ , while Hermione frowned disapprovingly down upon him as she tucked something down the front of her robes. Most of the Gryffindors found this image rather amusing as well, and even some of the Slytherins were coughing quiet coughs of laughter. Hagrid tried to hide his amusement at Draco rolling around on the ground getting attacked, but proved unable to hide a small smile.

The rest of Hagrid's first lesson went remarkably well. Malfoy had run up to the castle and Hagrid did not seem too keen to call him back, and when Hagrid asked the three of them at the end of the lesson what they thought, all they could offer Hagrid was complements.


	2. Potions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you so much to everyone who read the last chapter! :) You guys made my day. Here the next chapter!!! Happy reading.

Malfoy snide comments towards Harry had almost completely subsided. He mostly avoided Harry as much as was possible, ducking his head down in the halls as he passed the three of them, and sitting as far away as possible from Harry in the classroom. Ron watched these antics with much amusement, while Hermione simply shook her head.

“Why d’you keep shaking your ‘ead a’ these ‘appenings?” Ron asked through a mouthful of drumstick at dinner one night.

“ _Because_ , I’m slightly worried.” Harry glanced at her as he reached over Rons head for a piece of bread.

“Worried?” Harry asked, as he slathered butter generously. “Why?”

“Because you _utterly_ humiliated Malfoy. Not because you’re a guy, Harry” She said with a pointed look as Harry opened his mouth to protest, “But because you one upped Malfoy. And someone like Malfoy-”

“-is bound to want revenge.” Ron finished, looking up from his food for once, a slightly apprehensive look on his face. 

“But he seems rather keen to never see me again.”

Hermione sighed rather exasperatedly, spearing a piece of broccoli with her fork.“Because hes gearing up for something bad, Harry. So it’s bound to be pretty- well, pretty-”

“-Disastrous” Ron supplied rather unhelpfully. Ron patted Harry on the back lightly. “Don’t worry mate, you’ve got us to help you out. Malfoys got two moving rocks named Crabbe and Goyle.” Hermione allowed herself a small smile before leaving the table to go to the library to study.

*  
Hermione, unfortunately, was correct in her assessment of the situation. Not even a week later, Malfoy, who’d gotten himself into a quidditch accident which _apparently_ called for the need to put his arm in a sling.  
Malfoy getting injured, in of itself, wasn't the worst thing that could happen. But, that day in potions, which was already by far Harry's least favorite class (of all time) managed to somehow become worse when Professor Snape, with a look of utmost loathing, told Harry he would have to complete his hair growth potion, _and_ help Malfoy with what he was currently unable to do due to his injury, and Harry's mood darkened considerably. Malfoy gave him an evil grin, which surprised Harry given how long it had been since Malfoy had even _deigned_ to look at him. Feeling a bit of bravado, Harry blew a kiss back, causing Ron to let out a bark of laughter as the sneer dropped from Malfoy’s face to be replaced with something a bit more _menacing_.  
Harry moved his bookbag, his cauldron and his ingredients over to where Malfoy was sitting. Hermione gave him a rather knowing, worried look, and Ron gave him a look of pity, making a rude hand gesture towards Snapes back.  
Malfoy sat relaxedly in his chair, his feet propped up on the table, told Harry- “Get my ingredients, Scarhead. I couldn’t possib-” Not letting Malfoy finish his sentence,Harry left to get the ingredients _again_ , furiously snatching different roots, herbs, and dried animal parts. He slammed them rather crossly on the table, and was starting to cut up his own shrivelfig root when Malfoy told him that he was _unfortunately unable_ to cut up his own shrivelfig, and that Harry had to, and when he was done with that, and intended ongoing back to work on his own potion, he had only added the taurian trigel before Malfoy insisted that he continue to make Malfoys potion, which he did so, gritting his teeth so hard it hurt.  
“After all, Potter, I have a rather good grade in this class that I would much like to keep. Hair growth potion is dreadfully easy to make, even _you_ can’t screw it up.” Harry very much would have liked to dump the entire cauldron of stuff onto Malfoys head, but instead, decided to just _slightly_ tweak the amounts of each ingredient that he was adding into Malfoys cauldron, so as to not get into trouble, but not make Malfoys potion perfectly, although Harry doubted that he could actually make a perfect potion even if he did try. His skills at potions were only marginally better than Neville’s.

Thankfully, he soon reached the part in the instructions that required the potion to cool down for 15 minutes, so he sat down on his side of the table, rather exhausted.

Professor Snape swished by, and,unfortunately unable to find anything wrong with Harry's potion, simply remained silent. He gave a perfunctory glance at Malfoys cooling potion, clearly not expecting anything to be wrong with the potion, but still paused to examine the potion better, leaning down slightly. Just then poor, disastrous Neville bumped into him on the way to clean his cauldron, causing Snape to stumble and dunk his head into the sapphire coloured potion. A collective gasp went up as Snape emerged, slowly and dangerously, dripping wet, from the potion. As he vanished the potion from his head, andanother gasp slithered around the classroom. Professor Severus Snape, the man with the oily black hair, had gone completely bald. A rather mortified silence that settled over the whole class. It might have been funny in another situation, but Harry found that all he felt was mildly horrified.  
“My office after class. The _both_ of you.” Snape whispered, anger dripping blackly off his voice.  
Harry and Malfoy shared a look of mutual terror and hatred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the reading. Like always, I would love to hear your thoughts on it :) Please stay safe and healthy during this time!


	3. Consequences

“ _It was completely Potters fault!_ ” Draco yelled, his face actually turning a pale pink with anger.

“Well,” Harry began calmly, “Maybe if I _HADN'T_ needed to make TWO POTIONS in one period, it would’ve turned out better.”

They were arguing in Snapes office, while Dumbledore, Professor Snape and Mcgonagall looked on, much disapproval on both of the heads of houses faces. 

“Is that true, Severus?” Professor Mcgonagall asked, looking towards Snape for clarification.

Snape, whose hair had been grown back magically in almost an instant, cleared his throat. 

“Because of Malfoys injury, I felt it necessary to give him some- _ah_ \- assistance in his potion making.”

Mcgonagall cast a rather severe look over her glasses at Snape. “And you chose Harry? Surely you must know Severus, that Draco and Harry aren’t very well- _acquainted_.” Mcgonagall said,as if Harry and Malfoy were simply classmates who didn’t quite know each other well, instead of being complete utter opposites, not to mention enemies.

Snape cast his special look of loathing at Harry. “ I thought it would benefit Potter, who has shown absolute _incompetence_ at Potions, to pair him with someone who is at the top of the class. Potter might learn something from this class for once.” Malfoy smirked slightly at this.

“But-” Harry protested, “I can learn from Hermione! And Malfoy was making me do everything for him! Even the things that he could do.”

Malfoy glared sulkily at Harry then. “ You deserved it. For what you did.”

Harry's mouth gaped open as the adults looked on, rather confused.

“And what is it that you did, _Potter_?” Snape was watching him very closely, clearly hoping to hear something rather incriminating, something that might get Harry suspended at the very least and at the very best, expelled. To Malfoy's horror, who only then realized he might not want the teachers knowing this information, and looking Snape straight in the eyes, Harry responded loudly “I Kissed Malfoy.”

Mcgonagall gave a rather un-Mcgonagall like snort, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she had heard, and Snapes usual look of hatred turned to something akin to confusion tinged with a bit of- _something else_. Sadness? Pain? Harry wasn’t quite sure. Dumbldore, his eyes twinkling, merely winked at Harry.

*  
Harry and Malfoy were to serve detention _together_ for one week,much to both Malfoy and Harry's dismay.They had to scrub the dungeons everyday after the 7 years had finished making their complicated brews and potions. Harry had seen the state of the potions room once after the seventh years had finished. It was generally quite messy, with random spills and half used ingredients and cauldrons not quite cleaned yet. 

Detention would start on Monday, which was presumably when Malfoy's arm sling was coming off. 

Harry relayed this all to Ron and Hermione in the common room after dinner that night. Hermoine was working on her Arithmancy essay, already having finished the Herbology essay set by Professor Sprout on the different properties of Gurgling Grass and their uses in Healing cuts and bruises. Harry scratched out a sentence that he realized was incorrect, rubbing his forehead in stress,and writing instead

_While the effects of Gurgling Grass on internal cuts and bruises is still being researched, on minor cuts and bruises on the skin, essence of Gurgling Grass, particularly in the form of a salve, can often heal cuts and bruises instantly. Theres is also some debate amongst Healers as to the possible usage of the Grass on calming the mind, but that is still being researched as well._

Someone tapped Harry on the shoulder, and he looked up to find Oliver Wood staring grimly down at him.

“I heard from Mcgonagall that you got yourself detention for the rest of the week. Harry, we have a match against the Hufflepuff's in less than a month. How are we supposed to train with out seeker missing for a whole week, huh?”

Fred and George, who were passing by, pointed out that “We’re flying against Hufflepuff, Wood. It should be a piece of cake.”

Harry nodded enthusiastically along with the twins. Wood, however, only seemed to become even more agitated at the thought of this. “Diggory's team is much better than what we fought last year! Hes not someone to be underestimated” Johnson, and Bell, who came over when they saw Wood gesticulating madly, though very giggly about Diggory, did their best to calm Wood down as well, though not to much avail.

“ I promise I’ll practice on my own time next week too, Wood.” 

Wood continued frowning at him, but he left, leaving Harry feeling rather guilty. He knew how badly Wood wanted to win the quidditch cup, what with it being Woods last year at Hogwarts, and he wanted to help make sure that that did happen, not to mention that he also wanted very badly to win the cup as well. It wasn't like Harry _wanted_ to be stuck in the chilly,cavernous dungeons with only Malfoy for company. Sighing, Harry went back to his essay, the fire roaring and the wind howling. He hoped he wouldn’t have to fly in conditions like this, even if the match was only against (a slightly strengthened) Hufflepuff. Harry went to bed soon after that, falling asleep immediately, glad for a brief reprieve.

The storm howled on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for reading :) Thank you so much for all of you that left me Kudos to! You guys make my day infinitely better! Please feel free to tell me what you think and remember to stay safe and healthy.


	4. Detention

The weekend passed much too quickly. When Harry wasn’t on the Quidditch pitch training, he was in common room, working on the copious amounts of homework that his teachers had set for him. 

Ron wasn’t doing much better. Even though he had a bit more time than Harry to study, he still choose to play wizards chess with Dean, or Gobstones with Ginny. (“You only live once, Hermione! Quit nagging me!") 

Only when Hermione hounded him to do homework was when Harry truly began, though even then he didn’t seem to get nearly as much done as Hermoine, who Harry and Ron had to frequently remind to eat, as she didn’t seem to remember to do so otherwise, so caught up in the large tomes that she was reading for her classes, all of which made Harry and Rons homework look _easy_.

Dinner, to Harry's disappointment, was rather quick on Monday. Both Hermione and Ron seemed to be attempting to set a world record for the fastest food eaten. While Hermione's purpose was clear, Rons only became clear when he saw how much homework Ron had truly got done over the weekend, which was nil. 

Even Harry had managed to finish much of it, mostly due to Hermione's constant pressuring. Both of them shouted good luck at Harry on the way out of the great hall, Ron reminding him that he should bring his wand, which Harry decided, couldn't hurt.

Looking for any way to lengthen the time before Harry had to go down to the dungeons, Harry decided to take a small detour to the greenhouses for some gurgling grass. Harry had cut his hands while working with the Kneazles in Care of Magical creatures, and wanted to heal them a bit after detention.

While cutting off some of the grass, he glanced over at Hagrids, which was lit up with a warm, inviting glow. Harry longed to ditch detention and head over there, but knew he would face much more serious consequences if he did so, especially as students were not technically allowed out of the castle after dark (Harry going to the greenhouses was pushing it), because of Sirius Black. Especially as all the professors knew he was Sirius Black's target, they would be even more severe on Harry.

*  
Malfoy arrived a few minutes after Harry had, as Harry had been a bit early. As if summoned by the presence of his favorite student, Snape materialized, his robes billowing out behind him.

Nodding at Malfoy and glaring at Harry with evil intent, Snape muttered.  
“You have two hours to clean this room everyday. Failure to do so will result in points taken from your house, as well as extra detention. You will give your wands to me so neither of you are _tempted_ to use them to clean up faster. There are supplies for cleaning in the back closet. _Begin._ ”

After the both of them hastily set their wands down and rushed back to the closet which Snape had referred to, putting on gloves, taking out _Merlin's Magical All Purpose Spray - The Best Cleaner in The Wizarding World_ , and various brooms ( not for flying unfortunately), mops and a bucket, which Harry got and filled with ice cold water from the tap. Snape had already left, his threats just as productive as a teacher in the classroom.

Malfoy, who had stopped being helpful after putting his gloves on, looked disdainfully at Harry as he rushed around collecting the scraps of ingredients, eager to be finished with detention.  
As he went to store-room to put the ingredients back in the right boxes, Malfoy called out. “Don't do that, Potter. Don’t you know that once an ingredient has been used, even a little, that we can’t put it back in the box?” Malfoy rolled his eyes as Harry walked back out, asking Malfoy where he suggested they put it then. ( _if he knew so well_ )

“Give me that. I’ll dispose _properly_ of it.” Harry held out the basket of assorted ingredients to Malfoy, who snatched it away from him, stalking off to the back of the classroom to finish off the job.

Seeing as he no longer had something he was working on, Harry decided to put all the cauldrons next to the sink. He made sure to keep each one five feet apart from the other, so that none of the ingredients would react with one another, causing an explosion that might be disastrous. After spraying them down, he left that to soak before taking the spray and going to clean the tables.

As he was wiping down the first table. Malfoy asked, “Why are you so-so- _competent_ at cleaning, Potter?” He seemed to add _Potter_ as a way to mask his curiosity, though his statement itself held little malice.

Harry, who was rather distracted by a particularly foul smelling, stubborn tain that was irritating him, found himself responding honestly.  
“The muggles I have to live with didn’t give me food otherwise.” As he finished cleaning the stain, he looked up in satisfaction, surprised when he saw Malfoy looking at him with an expression that almost resembled sadness or empathy. Almost.

Malfoy glanced away almost immediately, beginning, disparagingly ( _as if he were much higher than work like this_ ) to clean off all of the knives and other measuring utensils the seventh years had left behind. They worked in amicable silence for a while, when- 

“ _Ouch!_ ” Malfoy cursed. 

Harry looked up from the tables he was cleaning. Malfoy had cut himself on one of the paring knifes, and he was looking down at his finger in alarm. 

“Potter.” He said frantically, “Potter, look what happened!!!” Malfoy looked rather pale and scared, and Harry rolled his eyes.

“It's _just_ a scratch, Malfoy” He replied, but nevertheless came over to interrogate.

It was a little deeper than Harry expected, but nothing too serious. He led Malfoy over to the water basin, where he ran cold water over the cut until it stopped bleeding. Then, remembering the grass he had picked up earlier, he quickly ground it up into a pesto-like paste, spreading it liberally over Malfoys, pale, delicate finger. When he washed the grass-paste off, it seemed like there hadn’t been a cut at all.

Malfoy cleared his throat awkwardly, taking his hand away, and Harry went back to cleaning the tables. Neither of them spoke for the rest of the period, and when Snape returned with their wands, they both got out of the classroom as fast as possible.

*  
There wasn’t much talk in the common room after Harry came back. Ron and Hermione weren’t on speaking terms, given that Crookshanks apparently attempted to eat Scabbers again. Since Harry wasn’t in the mood to make stilted conversation, and he was extremely bored of the topic he was researching for History of Magic, his mind went back to the detention.

He and Malfoy had almost seemed…. _friendly_ during their time together. And, if not friendly, at least neutral. Perhaps, Harry thought, that was what happened when you had no one else to talk to for two hours. He didn’t know. Putting down his quill and his parchment, he sighed at the disaster that was currently his essay. Maybe he could get Hermione to proof-read it, he thought hopefully. Either way, Harry rolled the parchment up and put it in his bag. He bid good night to Hermione, who was looking at some completely foreign symbols that Harry assumed were Runes.

Hermione mumbled something incoherent back at Harry, much too focused on her books. Ron, who had started packing up as soon as he’d seen Harry stand up, glared bitterly at Hermione, who didn’t even notice. 

As they were sleepily dressing in their pyjamas, Ron yawned and asked, his voice thick with sleep, “Hey, how was detention with Malfoy?”

Harry wasn’t quite sure what to reply. All three of them had a deep dislike of Malfoy, and Ron would not be very pleased to learn that Harry might not dislike Malfoy as much as before. To be quite clear, Harry still did not like Malfoy, but he wasn’t as bad as Harry had thought. Harry had told Malfoy about the muggles, which was prime information that Malfoy could have used to bully him, and Malfoy hadn’t made fun of Harry. That in of itself was remarkable.  
Harry heard soft snores from the bed beside him, and knew Ron had fallen asleep. He decided to worry about that tomorrow. Harry too, was asleep as soon has his head hit the pillow, his body exhausted from the days work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Thank you for leaving kudos! I really do appreciate them <3 Like always, if you have something you wanna say, or talk about, feel free to leave me a comment! Stay safe.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry got through the next few days of detention by mostly keeping to himself and thinking about quidditch. Neither Malfoy nor Harry wanted to have much to do with each other, and this worked out perfectly fine for the both of them. They worked to finish cleaning the dungeon during the two hours and then leave hastily every night after Snape returned their wands to them, barely even looking at each other. During the days however, Malfoy had returned to his usual annoying self, making shallow digs at Harry, though interestingly enough, Malfoys pale, pointy face was often caught staring thoughtfully at Harry during their classes togther, though he turned it into a sneer anytime Harry looked back.

Finally, Friday came. Everyone was rather cheerful, they had announced the first trip to Hogsmeade in three weeks, right on Halloween. This good news managed even to get Ron and Hermione to bury the hatchet, though Ron still stared daggers at Crookshanks whenever he saw him.

Harry went down to the dungeons that night in a rather good mood. Although he wasn’t able to go to Hogsmeade with them in a few weeks, it was his last day of detention, and a Friday. Things, in Harry's opinion, were starting to look up again. Harry even gave Snape a cheeky smile as he turned in his wand, causing Snape to narrow his eyes suspiciously at Harry as he went to the back closet to get some tools to clean with. 

He worked cheerfully all throughout the detention, humming a muggle song the whole period. Malfoy, for his part, did not make much of a fuss about Harry’s singing, only glancing up slightly from the cauldron he was cleaning before his head went back down. 

Harry finished his work at record speed today, his good mood accelerating his progress in cleaning. After he finished his portion of cleaning (which Malfoy and Harry had come to an unspoken agreement upon), he sat down in one of the chairs, relaxing and imagining the fun weekend ahead.

He was caught up in a rather lovely quidditch match in his head when he was jolted from his daydream by Malfoys sudden yelp of pain.

More quietly, Malfoy muttered, “Oh Merlin,not again.” Harry craned his neck to look at Malfoy, who was in the back of the classroom. He was holding his finger up, which was steadily producing a large drop of crimson blood.

“Potter--help.” Malfoy mumbled, looking rather sick, and Harry realized, with a jolt, that _Malfoy was afraid of blood._

Not wanting to agitate Malfoy even further, Harry went over with no complaint. He knew how hard it was to be brave when confronted with something you fear, regardless of how normal it seemed to others. He washed it under the water again, Malfoy pointedly looking away, a waft of harsh mint smelling shampoo wafting towards him as he turned away as fast as possible. 

He washed the finger under ice-cold water until he was sure that the bleeding had stopped.  
“Alright, Malfoy. I don’t have any gurgling grass on me right now, so i’m just going to place a band-aid on the cut, okay?”

“Bandaid?” Malfoy asked warily. “Whats a bandaid?”

“A sort of bandage, but with tape and cloth to stick to the skin better. Muggles-”

“No!” Malfoy yelled. “I will not put anything _Muggle_ on my finger, _Potter!_ ”

**

Five minutes later, Harry and Malfoy sat on opposite sides of the dungeon, both looking rather disheveled. Harry's hair was even more out of place than usual and even Malfoys robes were looking a bit mussed. Malfoy was holding up his pinky, which Harry had managed to put the band-aid on, and staring at it in horror. Harry could barely contain the laughter that threatened to burst out of him. Snape walked in then, and Malfoy took his wand, taking care not to touch it with his pinky, and dashed out of the room. Harry followed suite, though not before Snape managed to get in one of his scathing comments. One thought about bald Snape was enough get Harry smiling again. All in all, a pretty good Friday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the Kudos ! Like always, feel free to tell me what to think in the comments and stay safe!


	6. Hippogriffs and Houses

Malfoy, if anything, became even more rude towards Harry in the coming weeks. Turns out, he didn’t like the band-aid very much. Harry wasn’t much bothered by it, honestly. Given the comments that Dudley had constantly subjected Harry to while he was at Privet Drive, Malfoys comments, when they weren’t about muggleborns or Weasleys, were not very insulting, in Harry's opinion. 

Malfoys new fascination with making fun of Harry did have a singular benefit too, as Ron pointed out. Malfoy was so busy being mean to Harry that he had no time to bully Hermoine or Hagrid.

Malfoy being rude to Harry was the least of his worries, however. Harry was training for hours every day after class for the upcoming quidditch match, causing him to postpone his homework so much that he was staying up pretty much as late as Hermione, whose large workload was finally getting to her. The whole team was working through the pouring sleet and howling wind. Something about the fact that they had almost won for _two years in a row,_ and that it was Woods final year to win the cup gave the Gryffindors a certain determination that could not be quelled by bad weather or amount of homework.

Harry went to bed every night, exhausted from schoolwork and quidditch. The time before the match with Hufflepuff was becoming smaller and smaller, and Harry was beginning to feel a bit like Wood, his anxiety reaching a new high point.

**

Professor Trewlany wasn’t helping either. She had found out about Harry's fainting spell, and was now predicting Harry's death with absolute certainess. Knowing that Harry was playing in the upcoming match, she claimed to see broomsticks and as usual, _the grim_ , causing Hermione to snort loudly. 

Ron woke up with a grunt, lifting his head from the table to whisper to Harry, “Did you see her come in?”

Harry shook is head, the smell of insense in the classroom making his head feel woozy. They spent the rest of the period reading tarot cards, and writing down their predictions for each other. Harry and Ron decided very quickly to build a card castle with their cards instead. Professor Trewlany walked by, crying “-clear your inner eye! Allow them to see the true meaning behind the cards.”

“My inner eye passed out when it saw you,” Ron muttered, causing Harry and Hermione to choke and knock down the card castle they had created.

**  
The sky was a cloudy grey when the three of them set off across the grounds for their Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Hagrid was there waiting for the class, a look of nervous excitement in his eyes. Harry shared glances with Hermione and Ron. Anything that made Hagrid excited was likely to cause dread in other peoples opinions.

Hagrid led the class into the forest, occasionally glancing back to make sure the class was following. They walked into a clearing that with a circular paddock in it. Everyone gasped in awe at the creatures standing inside, slightly alarmed but mostly fascinated.

“Hagrid, what are those?” Dean Thomas asked, looking at Hagrid with a bit more respect.

“Hippogriff’s” Hagrid said, beaming proudly. He started his lesson by teaching them a bit about Hippogriffs, (“Half-bird and Half horse, but interestingly enough, they are actually empaths, can sense emotions an’ that sort o’ thing…”). He issued a warning about not insulting a Hippogriff, and then began partnering them off, the spell he was using to do this seemingly deliberately choosing people of different houses to be partners. 

Ron and Harry sniggered when Pansy Parkingson was paired with Seamus Finiggan. Seamus had accidentally burned off a whole chunk of Parkingsons hair during a potions lesson where his cauldron had exploded.

Hermione smiled tightly at Luna Lovegood, her partner, a dazed looking third year ravenclaw. 

Ron looked excited when he found out his partner was a gryffindor, but barely managed to stifle his groan when he saw it was _Lavender Brown_. Lavender didn’t look too pleased either.

Hagrid, frowning slightly at the next pairing, shouted out “Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy” Neither of them bothered to hide their displeasure.

Shooting Harry an apologetic look, he led them to a hippogriff called Buckbeak. After pairing everyone up, they set off bowing to their hippogriffs. Buckbeak bowed back to both of them rather quickly, and both Harry and Draco pet him, though on completely opposite sides.

Once everyone had finished that task, which took a while (Neville’s hippogriff was rather unwilling to bow to him), Hagrid said they could probably fly them. Even the slytherins looked up in excitement at this. “You’re teh fly with you’re partners, so that yeh can protect each other, understand? I don’ wan’ any accidents.” Everyone nodded.

Harry got on the Hippogriff first, as he was shorter than Malfoy, and Malfoy got on after, careful not to pull on any of Buckbeak's feathers. 

Buckbeak walked forward a bit, and Malfoys leg kicked Harrys. _Deliberately_ , Harry thought.

“ _Quit it!_ ” Harry snapped. 

Malfoy kicked him again, and Harry kicked him right back. 

Malfoy let out a surprised noise. “Hey!”

“What?” Harry replied. “Thought I felt something on my leg.” He kicked Malfoy again. “Look, there it is again.”

Malfoy didn’t say anything, but he could feel Malfoy seething, and he kicked Harry extra hard.  
However,they weren’t the only pair having issues.

Millicent and Dean were fighting about who got to sit in the front, not even on their Hippogriff yet. Neville and Goyle were having trouble of their own, as Goyle seemed unable to mount their Hippogriff.

Everyone turned to watch as Hermione and Luna were the first in the air. Luna was humming happily, seemingly unworried and but Hermione clutched onto Luna as if for dear life.

Harry and Draco were off next, Buckbeak ascending into the air smoothly. Dracos hands came to wrap around Harry's waist, and Harry's stomach did a little swoop. ( _From the flying, of course_ ) 

Harry waved to Ron in mid-air, and Ron waved back, though he looked a bit green, he still grinned.

The air was soon filled with whooping cheers, everyone enjoying the fresh air, and lack of rain, though it looked like it might come back. It was an interesting sight. Though so many of his classmates were from different houses, they still seemed to be enjoying each others presence now. Well, it was that, or the high altitude making peoples brains fuzzy. When Buckbeak did a little dive, Draco let out a small laugh, so different in sound from the snigger that he usually boasted.

Ten minutes later Buckbeak landed gently on the ground. Draco got off first, his cheeks dusted with a pale pink, leaving a tiny emptiness where his arms had been. Harry jumped off as well, his legs feeling a bit like Jell-O.

He wobbled over to Ron and Hermione, who looked just as windswept. They all headed up for the castle smiling. 

“That was interesting,” Hermione said, glancing towards the two of them. “ You know, inter-house unity is something thats incredibly important and not often seen.” Ron rolled his eyes, not really paying attention. The conversation trailed off for a bit, all of them a bit tired and chilly.

“You know, maybe flying isn’t all that bad.” Hermione said casually, breaking the amicable silence they had been in. Ron and Harry looked at each other and then at Hermione. 

“ _Its the best!_ ” They said in unison. Hermione rolled her eyes at them laughing, and they went to the great hall cheerfully, not noticing a pale haired boy watching them from a distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope you liked this chapter :) thank you so much for the kudos and comments they literally make me so happy. As usual stay safe and take care


	7. Chapter 7

Harry woke up on the day of the quidditch match against Hufflepuff rather early, a fair bit of nervousness roiling in the pit of his stomach. Looking outside the window, he couldn’t tell what time it was, the black rain clouds masking Harry’s ability to tell the time. 

Harry leaned over Ron's bedside table and looking at his watch, Harry saw how early it was in the morning. As he clearly wasn’t going to go back to sleep, he decided to get up and go down to the common room, taking his book of flying techniques with him in an desperate attempt to quell the nerves that continued to rise up in him.

At around eight, the whole Gryffindor team went down to the great hall. Wood walked around, urging everyone to eat, bumping into a few rather scared first years while doing so.Harry thought time was moving rather weirdly, not at all, and then super fast. 

They walked down to the Quidditch pitch soon after, the howling wind and pounding sleet blowing away many students umbrellas, and doing nothing for Harry's nerves. Even so, the entire school turned out, quidditch was simply that popular. 

At nine, both teams walked out on to the quidditch pitch, and Wood and Diggory had to shake hands.Diggory simled amicably, but Wood looked rather pained as he attempted to return the smile.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle, and they were off. Harry rose as high as possible, but he couldn’t even see three feet in front of the face. _How was he supposed to find the snitch like this?,_ Harry thought worriedly. The cheers of the crowed melded in with sounds of the storm, and Harry had trouble telling what was happening. He scanned desperately for the snitch, but he couldn’t find it. He could barely tell when Madame Hooch blew her whistle that signaled a time-out. Harry dove on his broom towards a Wood-shaped figure ( at least, he hoped).  


“I called the time-out. Guys, we’re fifty points up, but we _need_ to catch the snitch soon. If we don’t, we’ll basically reach a stalemate and have to play for _hours_ .”

“How can I catch the snitch when I can barely see?!” Harry said, panic rising to settle in his chest as he attempted to glare at his glasses. Hermione, who had come down from the stands, took them off his head, said, “I have an idea!” 

Hermione muttered “ _Impervius_ ”, and when Harry put them back on, all the rain seemed to be deflected off of his glasses. Wood looked like he wanted to ask Hermione to marry him, and the Gryffindor team rose in the air with new motivation. 

Harry, whos legs were so numb that they felt like falling off, knew he needed to find the snitch quickly, but just then, there was a giant flash of lightning, and he saw it. A shaggy, black dog standing near the whomping willow, just standing. Harry almost fell off his broom. Just then, Wood screamed “Harry” , desperation in his voice, and Harry saw Diggory chasing after the snitch. Harry urged his broom forward, _come on, come on,_ but then everything became blurry. The cold from the rain began to sink in to his very core, and Harry, with a shock of dread, realized what it was. He tore his eyes of the snitch, and looked down. Hundreds of dementors were looking up at him, it felt like ice, like burning ice inside his chest, cutting him up from the inside out.

Someone was screaming….a woman….his eyes opened. 

_It was his mother begging voldemort to save him._

Harrys hands left his broom, and he fell, letting darkness consume him.

*  
“Lucky he survived such a fall”

Other voices shushed the speaker.

Harry woke in the Hospital Wing, he snapped open his eyes, to see his team as well as Ron and Hermione huddled around his bed. Both Hermione and Ron had red eyes. Ron was blowing snot into a tissue. 

When they realized Harry was awake, there were multiple noises of relief. Hermione made a little choked noise, and clutched onto Ron. Even the twins looked rather pale.

They launched into explanations, but Harry wasn’t listening. The _cold_ clamminess that had spread over him was all he could think about. In an effort to distract himself, he asked who won, but that only made him feel worse, when he realized that this was the first match that he ever _lost_ . No one could console Harry, who put his head between his knees.

“Harry,” Ron said, his voice wobbling. “Theres something else.” He held a cloth bundled in his hands that he unloaded gently onto Harry's bed.

It was a bunch of twigs, and that confused Harry at first, until he saw the logo _Nimbus 2000_ on a particularly large sliver of wood. Harry knew his faithful, wonderful broomstick had had its last fly. Soon after, Madame Pomfrey insisted that everyone leave so Harry could rest, and Harry took this excuse very gratefully. All he wanted was to be alone. Pomfrey gave his some dreamless sleep, and Harry took it, gulping the whole thing down. Madame Pomfrey's face swam before him, a sadness in her eyes as she looked at him, and then Harry was gone.

*

He woke up around three, and groggily, he saw someone leaving the hospital wing quickly. Glancing to his right, he saw a present on his bedside table. Opening it, he realized that it was a very nice bar of chocolate. There was a small note that came along with it. With fingers still tired and sleepily, he fumbled with it before unfolding it properly.

It was very short.

 _For what I owe you._

Beneath that, in elegant black cursive, it was signed,

D.M.

Harry fell back asleep, a unidentifiable feeling in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, hope you liked this chapter. Nessecary to the plot unfortunately. To those who have commented and Kudosed, you have my love :) As usual, feel free to comment what you think and leave kudos :)


	8. Chapter 8

Although Harry was in the hospital, he still found himself with lots of company. Professor Lupin even came once too, bringing him some chocolate. After people at Hogwarts had found out about Harry eating chocolate after his last Dementor attack, he had begun receiving copious amount of it, though he doubted that even that could raise his spirits.

Lupin wasn’t looking rather well either. His face had a rather pallid look to it, his eyes were bloodshot, and his tattered robes seemed to be hanging looser on his already thin frame.  
“Sorry to hear about your broom,” Professor Lupin said. “ Are you sure that there isn’t any way of fixing it?”

Harry shook his head morosely. “No”

There was a bit of an awkward silence, before Harry burst out- “Why do the dementors affect me so terribly?”

Lupin studied him at bit. “Its not because you are weak, or anything like that. Its because you, Harry, have true horrors lurking in your past, ones that your classmates can scarcely dream of.”

“When they get too close,” Harry said, a bitter pain biting his throat, “ I can hear Voldemort murdering my mum.”

Professor Lupin nearly dropped the chocolate he had brought for Harry. He didn’t seem to know what to say. 

“Your mother was an extraordinary witch,” Professor Lupin said, his voice becoming a little gravely. “Very magically talented. But perhaps what was most beautiful about her was her ability to see beauty in the most unexpected places.” 

He cleared his throat a bit, just as the hospital door opened, and Hermione and Ron walked in, carrying Harry's workload for the day.

“Hello, Ron, Hermione.” They both nodded at him before he excused himself, giving Harry an awkward pat on the shoulders.

Ron set down the books and worksheets that he had brought for Harry to do, along with a neat list of all the assignments and when they were due, ( clearly written by Hermione) Hermione, however, was still watching Lupin leave, frowning slightly.

She set the food that they had brought from the Great Hall for him to eat on a tray that she then gave to Harry. Ron was rummaging through the pile of chocolate that was next to Harry's bed.  
“You should be glad that you missed Defense Against the Dark Arts today, Harry.” Ron took a Mars Bar gifted to Harry from one of the second year muggleborns who went to Hogwarts, shook his head, and put it back in the pile.

He waited for Ron to continue, but since Ron was preoccupied by the chocolate, Hermione continued. “Professor Snape was the teacher.”

Harry spit out his pumpkin juice. “ _Professor Snape?!_ ” Hermione gave him a napkin disdainfully. 

“Yes. He did a lesson on werewolves.”

“Werewolves? But-”

“-We were just covering hinkypunks? I know. But-”

“If he was still able to visit Harry, how come he couldn’t teach?” Ron puzzled, looking a bit irritated. “The slimy _git_ took at least 30 points from Gryffindor.” Ron then called Snape a few names that Harry thought best not to be repeated.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Its _obvious, _isn’t it?”__

__Before Harry could ask what was obvious, Ron made a noise of exclamation. “Blimey, Harry! Who brought you this?”_ _

__He held up the chocolate that Draco had brought Harry. Not really wanting to get into that conversation, he said casually. “A hufflepuff fifth year, I believe? Why?”_ _

__“Well, its _bloody_ expensive! Also-” _ _

__Hermione, who was, surprisingly, looking at the chocolate with as much fascination as Ron with any food, cut in. “-it’s made with phoenix tears, which gives it-”_ _

__“-healing powers.” Harry finished._ _

__“Supposed to taste really good.” Ron mumbled, looking longingly at the bar. Hermione punched Ron in the shoulder, though she was looking at it with curiosity too._ _

__Harry opened up the bar and broke it into three pieces, giving Ron and Hermione each a piece. His friends deserved this as much as he did. Both Harry and Hermione both decided to save theirs, but Ron chomped half of his down immediately. He instantly looked brighter and better rested._ _

__“It tasted wonderful.” Ron said dreamily. Harry choked back a laugh wondering how Ron would react if he knew it was from Malfoy. Ron shoved the rest into his pocket, wrapping it tenderly in a cloth napkin they had brought for Harry's dinner._ _

__As they were leaving, both Ron and Hermione gave him a hug. While doing so, Hermione squeezed his hand, slipping a note into his hand as well._ _

__“Thank you for the chocolate.” She whispered. When they both left, Harry opened the note._ _

__In Hermione's neat handwriting, it said-_ _

___I’ve left my DADA and charms notes. Good luck with your homework!_. __

__Looking through the books they had left for him, he saw that Ron had hidden a quidditch magazine inside one of the textbooks for Harry._ _

__Harry smiled a little, as a tiny bubble of brightness filled Harry, who was glad to have such wonderful friends._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!!!! Hope you liked the chapter!! I liked writing this one. Thank you for the comments ( they really mean so much to me) and the kudos! Like always, feel free to tell me what you think or leave kudos. STAY SAFE BBS :)


	9. Chapter 9

Everyone was very cheery on Friday, all of them looking forward to Hogsmeade and Halloween tomorrow. Harry was very much looking forward to Halloween, but feeling slightly ( _Very_ ) disappointed about the fact that he was unable to visit.

Ron and Hermione talked about the visit all the way down to Care of Magical Creatures.

“-I want to get into Honeydukes and just-” Ron eyes glazed over at the prospect of so many confections.

“Yes, thats sound very fun and all, but I _’m_ rather keen to see the historical side of the town as well.” Hermione replied, looking very excited. “I’m quite curious about the shrieking shack.”

“Fred said it was home to some very violent poltergeists. But there hasn’t been a sighting in years.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “ I think there _was_ something in the shack. But whether or not it was a poltergeist is very questionable. I mean, think logically. Why would such a violent poltergeist just leave? No no, more likely, there was an animal that panicked and made those gashes and noises. ”

Ron rolled his eyes now.

“Speaking of animals…” Harry said. He told Ron and Hermione about the large black dog that he had seen on the day of the quidditch match.

Ron went rather pale.

“So Trelawney was _right_! Blimey Harry, you ought to be more careful.” 

Hermione however, snorted.

“Coincidence.”

Ron gaped at Hermione before frowning. “You just don’t like divination because its the one subject you suck at.”

He had clearly struck a nerve. 

“Oh _really_? So you’re telling me that if you were to drink a goblet laced with poison, and then you happened to look over at me, that I _was the cause of your poisoning?!_ Really _intelligent_ insight Ronald.” 

Ron looked slightly miffed at this. But, Hermione had a good point, Harry thought. It comforted him a bit.

Hermoine was still fuming, and without warning, she swung around and hit Ron in the crotch with her bookbag.

Ron doubled over in pain, while Harry tried very hard not to laugh.

“Bet your divining skills didn’t predict _that!_ ”

She walked ahead, her head held loftily in the air, and Harry and Ron scrambled to catch up, though Ron and Hermoine didn’t speak the rest of the way down to Professor Hagrid's class.

**  
“Thought it would be good of me to tell yer wha’ yer main project for this year will be!” The class was silent, waiting a bit apprehensively.

“Yeh will be takin’ care of the Hippogriffs with yer partners, and the end of the year, there will be a practical, an’ a written exam. Quit yer whinin’! All yeh have teh do for the written exam is write about yer hippogriff. What it likes, what it don’ like. Basic stuff.”

Harry and his classmates let out sighs that were equal irritation and relief at the simpleness of the exams. Hermione was the only one who was disappointed about the lack of a real exam. The rest of them, Harry suspected, were disappointed for the same reason he was. Their partner.

**  
Draco was already by Buckbeak when Harry got there. He said nothing to Harry, just cast him a cool glance before going back to looking at their Hippogriff.

They didn’t really speak much. Draco made Harry go get Buckbeak's raw meat, which caused Harry to throw a piece at Draco, which Buckbeak dove for, scaring Malfoy and making Harry laugh.

Draco retaliated by dropping a piece of raw meat down the hood of Harry robes, causing Buckbeak to try and find it and Harry to think that he might die by way of Hippogriff. 

Then, Draco fed Buckbeak water while Harry brushed out his feathers. It was very relaxing work. Hippogriff feathers were very soft.  
Harry felt so relaxed that he asked Draco a question.

“Why do you hate muggles and muggleborns so much?”

Draco looked up from polishing Buckbeak's beak. He seemed caught off guard.

“Because they’re vile, and disgusting, and…”

“Okay, but why?”

“Well,” Draco replied casually, “Its in their nature, isn’t it? They can-”

“Have you ever gotten to know any?”

“Not really. I tend to stay away.”

Harry, though he was fuming a bit, managed to stay polite.

“I was raised by muggles and you don’t think I’m vile, do you?”

“Yes, I do. “ Harry frowned at Draco, who gave him a snarky smile before continuing. “Besides, you aren’t muggleborn just because you live with them.”

“What about the Weasleys?”

“They’re pureblood,” Draco conceded. “But muggle lovers, the lot of them. My father-”

“But-How do you know what your father said is true?”

Draco actually looked surprised at this. “Wouldn’t you trust what your father said?”

“I wouldn’t know.” Harry replied bitterly. “My father was murdered by a _wizard_ named Voldemort.”

Draco had the decency not to say anything.

A few minutes later, Draco resumed the conversation.

“Thinking of trying to catch Black?” He looked at Harry intently.

Harry didn’t know what this had to do with his parents death, but he replied anyways, rather confusedly and mostly sarcastically.“Yes. Got a problem?”

Draco raised his eyebrows, deliberately not catching Harry’s eyes. “No no. Just, if it were _me_ , I would have already gone to find him, for what _he_ did.”

“And what would _that_ be?” Harry asked. Draco opened his mouth to reply, but just then, Seamus managed to get the raw meat he was holding to explode, and Hagrid dismissed class.

When Harry turned back around to continue his conversation with Draco, he found the spot where Draco was to be deserted, the only sign that he had been here a sharp spearmint odor.

Harry decided right then and there, that he was going to change Draco's backward prejudices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for 100 kudos! Yayyy but really though, to those who leave comments, they light up my day so a huge thank you to you. As always, feel free to leave a kudos or comment!!!  
> Stay safe and hope you liked the reading!


	10. Chapter 10

Ch 10

By the time that Harry woke up on Saturday, the dorm room was already empty, their beds left in equally deplorable states. Harry contemplated staying in bed awhile, his comforters warm and heavy, but eventually he forced himself to get up, taking his schoolbag along with him.

He deliberately ignored the _Which Broomstick?_ Magazine laying nearby that Wood had brought him a week ago. Harry wasn’t very eager to replace his broomstick. His _Nimbus 2000_ had been with him through his two and a half years at Hogwarts. It had stayed stable and strong and Harry had always trusted his broom. He wasn’t quite sure that he wanted to let it go by already looking for a replacement.

He sat in one of the chairs by the fire, spreading out his homework over multiple tables and chairs. The fire crackled merrily as Harry worked through out the day, the delicious smell of the Halloween feast wafting enticingly through the air and making him feel a bit more cheerful.

Around two, he began to get a bit frustrated, struggling through a particularly difficult potions essay set by Snape about the Wolfsbane potion, something (Hermione said) only very serious seventh year potions majors ever attempted. 

Furthermore, Peeves had decided that today was a fine day to try and teach Harry to the American National Song by singing it at the top of his lungs over and over. Although Harry wasn’t American, he was quite sure that it didn’t say. ( _Oh say can you pee, When the pawns start to fight…_ )

Harry gave up doing homework and went down to the great hall to grab some lunch ( a couple sandwiches and a glass of pumpkin juice), and walked down to Hagrids for some good company.

He didn’t see many people on his walk down to Hagrid's hut. When he got down to the vegetable garden,Hagrid was busy cutting up the pumpkins faces into weird shapes, which Harry supposed, were for the feast later today. There were always pumpkins hanging in the Great Hall on Halloween. Hagrid waved him over, his face soaked in sweat as he continued to create various shapes in his pumpkins.

“Hello, _Professor_. “ Harry said. Hagrid rolled his eyes at Harry, but proved unable to keep a small smile and a look of pride from appearing on his face at the addressal. They kept up very basic conversation, Harry passing up, once again, Hagrid's rock cakes, claiming to be saving his stomach for the feast.

Hagrid seemed too busy to really entertain Harry, so he got Hagrids permission to go visit Buckbeak (Beaky, in Harry's mind). He pet Buckbeak, who rubbed his beak on the back of Harry's hand as a friendly way of greeting him.

“Hello, Beaky.” Harry said, feeding him some raw beef he had taken from Hagrids personal stores. Beaky snapped them out of his hands, gulping them very quickly before expecting more. Harry glanced around at the other Hippogriffs, feeling slightly bad about only feeding Buckbeak. Beaky nudged Harry's hand, asking for more meat, acting in a way that reminded Harry of a bit of dogs. 

He made a mental note to ask Hermione if Hippogriffs were the sort of creatures you could train to do tricks. He wasn’t quite sure. As he contemplated, Buckbeak curled down on the ground, and Harry made another note to try and bring him something soft to lay on. Buckbeak didn’t seem to mind the forest floor, but looking at all the loose rocks on the floor made Harry feel bad for some reason.

He sat down on the floor of the forest next to Buckbeak, enjoying the quiet peace of the forest. Too soon the sky became dark and Harry was forced to go back up to the castle.

Hermione and Ron were waiting the in the Gryffindor common room for Harry when he got back. The looked like they had had the time of their lives that day in Hogsmeade.

“Harry!” Ron explained, shoving a chocolate into his mouth. “Where’ve you been? Hogsmeade is amazing!!!” He gestured to the small mountain of sweets beside him. “And _honeydukes, and butterbeer….. Don’t worry we got you some too!_ ”

Harry desperately tried not to be jealous or sad as Ron gushed on and on. Hermione, noticing this, interrupted ron to speak. 

“It wasn’t all that good, _was it_ , Ron?” Ron caught the look from Hermione and hastily agreed. However, the slight glow in their eyes and their rosy cheeks betrayed them.

“You can be happy about going to Hogsmeade, I don't mind.” Harry said, and though he very much did mind, he also liked seeing his friends happy. Hermoine hadn’t had a day off from schoolwork for the longest while and he reckoned she deserved it. Both of them smiled, but Harry wasn’t sure Hermione believed him.

They walked down to the great hall, Ron stuffing his pockets with chocolate and sweets much to Hermione's chagrin. 

The great hall looked wonderful. Bedecked in orange and chocolate banners, the tables filled with food of all types. Ron immediately sat down in front of the Butter chicken, scooping ladlefuls of it onto his plate. He took around three pieces of Naan, and then grabbed a handful of chips from a large bowl. Hermione, gasped in excitement when she saw the sushi that they put out, taking quite a few and then some mashed potatoes, which confused Harry slightly. Parvarti and Lavender were squealing over the baguette and french cuisine, and how romantic it was. Harry, after making sure it wasn’t too spicy, opted for some white rice ( the likes of which Harry had never had before), with braised pork. It was incredibly delicious.

“You know,” Harry said thoughtfully. “We’ve never had so many different cuisines.”

Hermione nodded, “Thats true. I wonder what caused the change?”

Ron shrugged, but before anyone had the chance to speak, a little Gryffindor first year, by the name of Melody Huang came up and hugged Ron. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Ron smiled a little, looking at Melody in a way that he had only seen him look towards Ginny with, an older brotherly like fondness.

Both Harry and Hermione stopped eating watching this strange interruption. It was a little surreal. Melody giggled and smiled when Harry waved at her, going back to eat with her friends.

“Ron?” Harry questioned.

Ron smiled slightly, “Well, you see, I was trying to avoid doing homework last week,” (“ _Ron_!”)

“So I was walking around and I hear someone crying. I thought it was Ginny honestly, so I went and looked,but it was Melody. Melody was shaking and crying and she looked so _small_. So of course I gave her some chocolate, which as we know, cures all, and asked her what was wrong. She said that she was feeling lonely and that the food here made her feel bad because she was lactose intolerant. She also missed her family, who live in london. Well, I just couldn’t stand to see her like that, so I went and talked to Professor Dumbledore, told him that we needed more variety in our food, and he said that it would take a week or two for the kitchen to learn, but that he would make sure to see to it, and here we are now.”

Harry's view on Ron shifted slightly that day. Hermione was looking at him in a strange way as well. Ron cleared his throat loudly and began eating again. 

Soon the desserts came out, causing Ron groan because he hadn’t had his fill of dinner but he happy about the sugar. Harry had some Fortune cookies, which Hermione told him weren’t actually chinese, and all of them, even Hermione, had at least three servings of Jalebi. 

The food had never tasted better, and they went up to their common room to find things beginning to back up.   
“Whats going on?” Hermione wondered.

“Probably Seamus blew up the portrait.” Ron sniggered, taking some meringues out of his pocket.

“Wheres the smoke, _genius?_ ” Hermione replied, stamping on Rons foot.

Percy shoved through crowd, yelling about being head boy.

When reaching the top. His tone changed. Quiet. Urgent. “Somebody get Dumbledore. Quick.”

He stepped aside, and a gasp slithered through the air.

Three long gashes ran through the painting.

No one said it, but the silence spoke volumes.

_Sirius Black._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO EVERYONE SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING!! AP TESTING HAD ME STUDYING ALOT~ As always thank you so much for the Kudos and comments, they are so nice and sweet and I love you guys! Hope you liked this chapter! Kudo and of course comment and tell me what you think!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Everyone headed down to the great hall by the request of Professor Dumbledore. It was quite chaotic, even with all the prefects attempting to control the situations. Students from other houses were looking very confused, and false news was spreading rapidly.

“I heard that Black can transfigure into a speck of dust and thats how he got in! By riding the currents of the air.”

“Don't be daft! Hannah told me that Quriell and Voldemort are on the back of Blacks head, teaching him dark magic for getting inside the castle.”

The rumors got wilder and wilder, words and stories exchanging so fast and furiously that by the time Professor Dumbledore yelled for quiet, the story going around was that Black was masquerading as Professor Mcgonagall, who was hiding her sharp wolverine claws (“Wolverine? Whats a wolverine?”), under the long sleeves of her blouse-jacket. 

Dumbledore cleared his throat, and the remaining murmurs subsided.   
“We are not sure how Black got in the castle, but for the next week, you and your classmates will be sleeping in the great hall while we upgrade security. Your belongings will be transported down sometime in the next few hours.”

“The Sorting Hat shall sort you into pairs of two. However, if you have pre created pairs from Hagrid's class, which I believe includes most of those from the third year up, those shall be your safety pairs.” Dumbledores eyes twinkled and he gave a small smile, helping calm down many of the students. “Anyone with questions may direct them to one of the heads of houses, I wholeheartedly recommend choosing a different head of house, just for fun.” He winked.Both Snape and Mcgonagall's jaws tightened.

Under his breath, Ron whispered. “ Imagine asking Snape for help making our beds.” Ron sniggered. “He would probably explode, the slimy git.”

Both Harry and Hermione muffled their laughter. Ron laughed less when he realized his partner was Lavender Brown. Harry didn’t really care about being partners with Malfoy. He figured that they would just ignore each other for the time being.

An awed exclamation was heard when Dumbledore conjured eight hundred floating beds, all equipped with screens for privacy. Chatter filled the hall as the first and seconds years and a few older students not taking Hagrid's class were sorted into their partner groups.

Both he and Malfoy were not really in the mood to start anything with each other. Harry wanted to sleep and just relax because he had quidditch practice tomorrow afternoon, and Malfoy didn’t seem like he really wanted to antagonize Harry either. Percy led the Gryffindors to the showers, where they washed and brushed their teeth.

When they came back from the showers, feeling clean and sleepy, they saw their possessions hovering near their beds. Draco (Unsurprisingly), had silk green sheets and rather expensive looking knicknacks. Harry even saw Ron gaze longingly at the Lunascope next to Draco's bed.

As they settled into their beds, a rather weird feeling settling over the group them. Hermione and Luna were situated on Harry's right side, Luna was trying to convince Hermione that Riggleneiths existed, and Hermione torn between exasperation and amusement.

Quite to Harry's shock, Lavender and Ron were talking, looking quite animated too. Harry wondered what the subject was; as Ron almost always chose sleep over people. 

Dean had crawled over to Seamus’s bed to play cards and Pansy, though she kept rolling her eyes, had also joined in, though she stayed far away from Seamus.

Draco floated up to his bed, got in, and promptly shut the curtains, not allowing any light in. Harry shut his too, the prying eyes starting to bother him, and read _The Hunger Games_ , one of the muggle books he had taken from Dudley, who only used books as a place to put food.

The chatter in the Hall got louder and louder until Mcgonagall came in, in a Maroon nightgown, sternly reminded the students to be quiet, and left again. 

Half an hour later, the great hall was filled with soft snores and heavy breathing. Harry drifted off slowly, feeling very relaxed by the gentle swaying of his bed and the starry canopy above. 

In all his time at Hogwarts,

Harry had not quite realized how beautiful the ceiling was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys, a short fluffy chapter here for you. Um next chapter has plenty of plans, trust me. THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS LITERALLY THEY ARE THE BEST AND I LOVE THEM SO SO MUCH. As always leave a kudos and a review. STAY SAFE!


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